One More Time
by MorningSkies
Summary: 15 years after Voldermort's defeat, anti-Muggle sentiment is rising and the old Death Eaters are growing restless. Harry is fighting betrayal and back-stabbing at the Ministry, as his old enemy, Dolores Umbridge, is brought back into the fold. Meanwhile at Hogwarts, an unknown sixteen year old called Delphi is becoming the most powerful student the school has seen in decades...
1. Introduction

**A/N: Welcome to my new story about the Wizarding World fifteen years after Voldermort's downfall. This is partly a Voldermort's daughter story and, although I'm not a big Cursed Child fan, I've called her Delphi for simplicity's sake. Please also note that this is somewhat AU as certain characters are still alive, including Snape and Dumbledore.**

**I hope you enjoy the introduction and please leave me a review. Next chapter will introduce us to Delphi and Hogwarts. **

_The Ministry of Magic, London. _

Harry Potter was running yet again. It felt like he had done little else in his thirty-two years on the earth.

He sprinted across the large, wooden-panelled atrium, not caring that some fifty or so people had stopped to watch the Head of the Auror Office. He was used to stares as much as he was used to running around.

Harry reached the lift and pushed his way to the front of the queue, ignoring the disgruntled muttering and the whispering behind hands. The glass fronted lift seemed to take an age to arrive but, just as Harry was debating blasting his way through the floors instead, the elevator glided up to the ground level.

Harry threw himself into the lift before anyone had a change to get out and drummed his fingers against the wall as he waited impatiently for the doors to close.

There was a slight performance as a witch from the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures Department tried to push her way out holding a Kappa under one arm and a cage of fire-breathing rabbits in the other.

'Everything okay, Harry?'

It was Michael Corner, one of the Oblivators, and he was looking at Harry with a mixture of concern and interest as they waited for the lift to move.

Harry shook his head to indicate that he wasn't going to say anything. Recent developments had made Harry increasingly view his colleagues as either allies or conspirators. Michael was most definitely an ally, but the last thing Harry needed was for news of the latest attack to sweep through Oblivator Headquarters before he'd had the chance to plan the Aurors' response.

The lift finally started moving but to Harry's irritation, it stopped at every single floor on the way to level three. By the time he'd reached the home of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Harry thought he might spontaneously combust.

He sprinted out of the lift, dodged a startled Alicia Spinnet, and then almost knocked Dennis Creevey to the floor. Harry hurried along the messy corridor of the Auror Office, strewn with _Daily Prophet _cut-outs, Quidditch posters, and moving photographers of leering Dark wizards. Every so often, a colleague would stick their head over a cubicle and stare at the Head Auror. Not all the stares were friendly.

Harry made it to his office and slammed the door shut behind him, breathing heavily. He'd only been on holiday for three days and already his desk had been covered by heavy stacks of important looking documents. Harry threw himself into his chair, took off his glasses, and ran a hand over his slightly sweaty face.

He was the last to know. Another attack and the Head of the Auror Office was the last to find out because he'd been hiking around a national park in France. Harry swore loudly.

As if on cue, the door swung open and three men let themselves into the office without waiting for an invitation.

Ron Weasley, Deputy Head of the Auror Office, was in the lead. Harry could instantly tell Ron was under pressure thanks to the reddening of his ears. He looked very tired, and Harry was forcibly reminded of Arthur Weasley, and how worn out he'd been after long shifts during the Second War.

Close at Ron's heels was the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, Arnold Rowley. Rowley was past seventy now, but still ignoring increasingly loud claims that he should retire. The man's face was as grey as his hair this morning, and he looked particularly lined.

Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister for Magic, brought up the rear. He alone looked calm, although there was a fire burning in his eyes that Harry hadn't seen in fifteen years.

'You heard then?' asked Ron, as he pulled up three chairs in front of the desk.

Harry replaced his glasses, leant back in his chair and sighed deeply. 'Emmeline Vance managed to get a message to me. Ginny and I were half way up a mountain when we heard.'

'Sorry about the holiday, Potter,' wheezed Rowley. 'But we had to get you back... have to do something... although what we can do...'

Kingsley cut across the old man's rambling. 'This is the fourth attack on a witch or wizard by Muggles in three months. It's not in the _Prophet _yet, but I can promise you that it will be this time tomorrow.'

Ron made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. 'Can't we do something about that bloody paper?'

Kingsley frowned. 'I can't suppress freedom of the press, Ron. Besides, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to. Not with Zabini as the new editor.'

'That snake. I've never liked-'

Harry jumped in before Ron could start a lengthy reminiscence about the Slytherins of their school days. 'Tell me exactly what happened. All I heard from Vance is that the victim is in St Mungo's.'

Kingsley grimaced. 'He should be fine. Richard Dalton was the name, an eighteen year old who'd just left Hogwarts. Four Muggles attacked him near Epping Forest. They beat him up so badly, the woman who found him thought it was a body.'

'Pureblood?'

'Of course.'

Harry swore again. 'Oh come on! There is no way that Muggles have got hold of purebloods and attacked them to the point of death on _four separate occasions_!'

Rowley looked confused. 'What are you implying, Potter?'

'I'm implying that something else is going on here. These attacks are playing right into _their _hands.'

The four men exchanged dark looks. The group of people to whom Harry was referring seemed to be growing every day. Members of the public who thought Kingsley was being too soft with Muggle relations. Vestiges of the old pureblood and Death Eater movements who had swindled their way out of prison and back into society. Most of the journalists of the _Prophet_, now under the sway of Blaise Zabini and his anti-Muggle ways.

'We can't prove anything,' insisted Rowley. 'Besides, we know its Muggles doing it. We've caught some of them.'

Harry shook his head. 'No there's something else. I just wish I knew what it was. I'm going to go and see Dumbledore.'

'Good,' Kingsley nodded. 'Action, that's what we need.' He lowered his voice and glanced around as though expecting eavesdroppers through the closed door. 'Harry, you've only been away a few days and I've grown more unpopular by the hour. That extends to you and Ron too. Well, everyone really who supports me.'

Rowley clicked his tongue. 'People are too easily stoked up. Tragic as these attacks are, they only represent a minority of Muggle-wizard interactions. We can't abandon our whole policies because of them.'

'Not everyone feels that way,' shrugged Ron.

Harry clapped his hands together. 'Right, we need a plan. We're going round in circles. We've had this same conversation ten times. I'm going up to Hogwarts this morning to talk to Dumbledore and-'

He broke off suddenly; several loud voices were floating in from the corridor outside.

Dennis Creevey's high pitched voice could clearly be heard through the door. It sounded as though he was hurrying along behind several sets of footsteps. 'I'm afraid you can't go in there at the moment, sirs. He's in a meeting I believe.'

'Oh go away, Creevey,' snapped a deep voice.

Dennis was not easily shaken off. 'The Minister's in there!' He protested. 'You can't...'

Harry's office door burst open with a bang. Instinctively, Harry and Ron reached for their wands, and Harry half- rose from his desk.

'I'm sorry, Harry. I tried to keep them out.' Dennis Creevey hovered anxiously in the doorway. Still small of stature at twenty-eight, he had been the Senior Secretary to the Auror Office for over a year now, and was usually excellent at keeping away people Harry didn't want to see.

'That's okay, Dennis. Somehow I don't think these men would have been deterred.'

Three men, all of whom dwarfed Dennis, stepped into the room and looked around menacingly. Slightly in front was Marcus Flint, the old Slytherin Quidditch captain who had somehow recently been promoted to Head of the Department for Magical Sports and Games, despite being less-qualified than several other candidates.

On his right stood Damon Yaxley, son of the disgraced Death Eater who had recently been allowed out of Azkaban for good behaviour. Damon was high up in the Department of International Magical Cooperation and, according to Percy Weasley, a real piece of work.

The third man was the one Harry knew best. In his mid-fifties, Max Ryland was older than the others, but he gave off an air of great energy. Like Harry and Ron, Ryland was in the Department of Law Enforcement. He was technically Rowley's second-in-command, although the two men famously clashed and tried to have as little to do with one another as possible. Harry had had a run in with Ryland just six months ago when the latter had not wanted to apprehend a pair of wizards accused of deliberately burning down a Muggle block of flats.

'This looks cosy,' sneered Flint, surveying the room.

Rowley looked affronted. 'How dare you intrude on a private meeting? We are discussing important matters.'

'We know what you're discussing,' said Ryland. His voice was low and cold, the closest to Voldermort's Harry had ever heard. 'You're discussing the latest attack on an innocent wizard by Muggle scum and how you plan to do nothing.'

Ron rose out of his seat and pointed his wand threateningly at Ryland. 'That's not true.'

'Sit down, Ron!' said Kingsley very sharply. He turned to look at the three new arrivals. 'I can assure you that we are planning a response. We will stop these attacks and get to the bottom of why they are happening.' He ended the sentence lightly, his voice merely hinting at any implications.

Ryland grinned horribly. 'Unfortunately Shacklebolt, most of the wizarding public doesn't seem to think your efforts are enough.'

Harry's heart was beating too quickly. 'What does that mean?'

Ryland looked up at Harry and smiled even wider. 'It means, Potter, that I've got a motion for a vote of no confidence against our Minister.'

He produced a roll of parchment from nowhere and let it rest on Harry's desk. 'I can assure you that the correct number of departments have signed.'

'And how many have you had to threaten?' shouted Ron.

Ryland laughed. 'Not many, I can assure you. It seems most of the Ministry actually wants these attacks to stop and the Muggles in question to be punished.'

Kingsley's narrowed eyes flitted between the parchment and the three men. 'You still have to win the vote, you realise?'

Flint, Yaxley and Ryland exchanged smug glances. 'We don't anticipate many problems with that, Shacklebolt.'

'And how does Kingsley's replacement plan on dealing with these attacks?' demanded Harry. 'Rounding up all the Muggles in Britain and throwing them in Azkaban?'

Flint shrugged. 'I suppose we'll see, Potter.'

'In the meantime, we'll be bringing in new Ministry staff to deal with this unprecedented threat,' said Ryland.

'Unprecedented threat?' exclaimed Rowley. 'Look, everyone understands these attacks are awful and need to be dealt with. The Minister can even speak to the Muggle Prime Minister if he sees fit. But getting rid of Kingsley and bringing in new people, do you not think that's an overreaction?'

Harry, however, was looking at Ryland. 'Who are you bringing in?'

Ryland glanced around the room as if trying to remember. 'Oh just a few people who we believe can help us through this trying time. I believe you know one of them at least, Potter.'

Harry met Ryland's eyes and, as he did so, the old scar on his right hand seemed to twinge.


	2. Chapter 1

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

'By now, your potions should be emitting gentle, silver steam. For those of you that have managed to read the instructions, at least.'

Professor Severus Snape swept through his dungeon classroom like the overgrown bat he was, and paused in front of a table of Hufflepuffs. He glanced into the cauldron of Matthew Hewitt and smiled nastily. Matthew, who was arguably the worst in the year in this class, wilted under the gaze of the Potions Master. His cauldron hissed weakly and shot a burst of green sparks onto the stone floor.

'Hewitt, tell me, did you read the third line on the board?'

Matthew muttered something under his breath and looked as though he wanted the ground to swallow him up.

Across the classroom, Delphi Rhodes was watching with a frown on her face. Her own cauldron had reached the silver steam phase some fifteen minutes ago and was now maturing nicely, leaving her nothing to do except watch Snape bully his way around the room.

'Can you help with this, Delphi?'

Teddy Lupin was looking flustered. His thick, brown hair was plastered to his forehead, and his face was red from the fumes. Teddy was talented in most Hogwarts subjects but, for some reason, Potions was not his forte.

Trying not to laugh at the thick smoke billowing from Teddy's cauldron, Delphi seized the wooden spoon and began to stir in the opposite direction. 'Just grab a drop of salamander blood. You need it to cancel out the extra frog tongues you added.'

Teddy huffed grumpily, but did as he was told.

At the same table, Victoire Weasley, Jamie Wood and Alex Valois laughed.

'Don't know why you're laughing, Jamie,' Teddy shot back as he took over the potion stirring from Delphi.

Indeed, Jamie's potion was navy blue and quickly turning the consistency of mixed cement. Victorie and Alex, meanwhile, were adding the final lace wing flies to their potions and watching as they began to emit silver steam.

Jamie swore. 'The bat's on his way!'

Snape swept over to their table and took in each of the five potions in turn. He nodded slightly at Delphi which, for Snape, was adoring praise, and ignored Victoire and Alex completely. However, as he looked at Teddy's cauldron, Snape's lip curled.

'What is that, Lupin?'

'My potion, sir,' muttered Teddy resentfully.

Snape sniggered cruelly. 'Really? Well you could have fooled me. Tell me, Lupin, did you add two handfuls of frogs' tongues instead of one?'

'Yes,' said Teddy defiantly.

'So is the problem that you cannot read, or that you simply enjoy being a dunderhead?'

Before Teddy could respond, Delphi found herself biting back. 'He made a mistake, for goodness sake! He's corrected it by adding salamander blood.' She looked up angrily at the teacher.

Snape slowly turned his head and stared down at Delphi. His black tunnel eyes bore into her for a few moments. 'Ten points from Gryffindor.'

Then he turned on his heel and stormed back towards his desk.

Jamie whistled under his breath. 'Wow, Delp.'

'You shouldn't have done that,' huffed Victoire. 'That's my points for Vanishing Spells gone.'

'Come off it,' snapped Teddy. 'Snape was being a right-'

Victoire and Teddy started bickering as they were often wont to do. Delphi ignored them and instead kept her eyes on Snape, who was now sorting through papers on his desk and looking strained.

Why did he have to be such a bully? Everyone knew that he'd risked his neck to spy on Voldemort in the war. His story was so legendary that even Harry Potter had vouched for him afterwards, claiming that Snape's help had been almost as vital as Dumbledore's in leading him to the Horcruxes that ultimately destroyed the Dark Lord. And yet, while Harry had gone on to become Head Auror and Dumbledore had resumed headmastership of Hogwarts, Snape had ignored all the plaudits and celebrations and settled back into bullying students in Potions class. It simultaneously baffled and infuriated Delphi.

Thankfully, the bell rang for break, allowing them all respite from the cold dungeons.

Victoire and Teddy were still bickering as they made their way up the stairs into the Entrance Hall, so hung back and walked with Jamie and Alex. Unfortunately, they were talking about Quidditch- something Delphi enjoyed watching but had no interest in analysing to death every day- so she made an excuse and hurried off to the nearest girls' bathroom.

Delphi closed the door behind her and leant over a sink, her hands gripping the taps. _Just do it. _

The problem was, Delphi was nervous about doing the thing she was building up to. It was a simple request, and she was top in the year, but something made her hesitate. No doubt the fear of being told no.

Oh what the hell. Before she could convince herself otherwise, Delphi shouldered her bag and left the loos. She jogged up several flights of stairs, turned down a long passageway and came face to face with a familiar statue.

'_Liquorice wand!'_

The statue sprung to life and Delphi took the emerging staircase two steps at a time. Only when she got to the top, did she pause and take a deep breath before knocking.

'Enter.'

Delphi pushed open the headmaster's office door to find Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, scanning a letter. She had only been in this room on a handful of occasions, most recently when she'd won the Medal for Magical Merit a few months earlier, but it looked the same as ever. Fawkes the phoenix hooted peacefully on his stand.

'Ah, Miss Rhodes. To what do I owe this visit?'

Dumbledore smiled and gestured the seat in front of his desk.

'Thank you, professor.'

The headmaster pressed his fingertips together and surveyed Delphi over them. She thought he frowned for the slightest moment, but then she blinked and Dumbledore's face was as polite as ever.

'Sir, I've come to ask you something, if that's okay?'

'Ask away.'

'Well, as you know, I live in a children's home in London. I don't have any parents. So, I was wondering if I could stay here at Hogwarts over the summer holidays as it's my last one? It's awful there, you see. And no one knows I'm a witch, obviously, so I have to be so careful. If I remained here I could study without the danger of someone walking in on me with a magical textbook...'

Delphi tailed off. She had said all of this very fast, with little pause for breath, and yet it didn't seem as though she had accurately conveyed her feelings to Dumbledore. He looked sympathetic but not conciliatory.

'I am sorry, Miss Rhodes,' he began, sounding genuinely apologetic. 'But I cannot allow special circumstances for you. I expect myself and my colleagues to be very busy over the summer and likely away from the castle for long periods. I could not permit a student to remain alone here.'

'Busy doing what?' She sounded noisy rather than rude, but the words were out of Delphi's mouth before she could stop herself. 'I'm sorry, professor.'

Dumbledore waved away her apologies. 'Curiosity is not a sin, Delphi. I appreciate you are an intelligent girl. You must have heard about these attacks from Muggles in the papers?'

Delphi frowned. She had indeed heard about them- everyone had. It was all the Slytherins had been talking about for weeks. Even in the Gryffindor common room it was a hot topic of conversation, although admittedly without frequent suggestions of rounding up all the Muggles and shipping them to Europe.

'Yes, I've heard about them.'

'Well, there is your answer. The Ministry requires my assistance, which I am all too happy to provide.'

Delphi fell silent and looked at Fawkes rather than the headmaster. A hint of shame was creeping over her. She had bared her concerns to Dumbledore and it had achieved nothing. She should never have bothered.

'Is there not a friend you could stay with?' probed Dumbledore gently. 'Perhaps Mr Lupin or Miss Weasley?'

Delphi bit her lip. She knew full well that, if she went to her friends now and asked, she would be invited for the whole summer. But the prospect of that was toe-curling embarrassing. She was already known as the orphan. She didn't want to spend an entire summer holiday being a burden upon someone else's parents, just because they felt too much pity to say no. It was Hogwarts or the children's home.

'It's okay, sir, honestly. I just thought I'd ask you.'

Dumbledore smiled. 'I am glad you did. Please do not take my refusal here as a response to all future requests. Do come and see me again if you have anything else you wish to discuss.'

Feeling slightly better, Delphi rose from her chair and was about to take her leave, when there was a loud knock on the door.

'Come in,' said Dumbledore, looking up.

The door was flung open quickly and Harry Potter himself strode into the room. Delphi had never met Harry before, despite being best friends with his godson and one of his nieces. He was in his early thirties now, tall and still rather skinny, with a mop of unruly black hair. The famous scar glinted away on his pale forehead. This morning, however, he did not look particularly heroic. He looked rather agitated.

'Ah Harry, I wish we met under better circumstances,' sighed Dumbledore.

'Morning Albus.'

Harry seemed to notice Delphi for the first time. His eyes passed over her and, as they did, the smallest of frowns appeared between his eyebrows. But then he shook his head and turned to the headmaster.

'Goodbye, professor.'

'Goodbye, Delphi. Do return and I will try to be of better assistance for your next request.'

Delphi nodded and left the room. Noticing, as she did so, that Harry did not take her vacated seat. Instead he began pacing restlessly around the office. He began talking as soon as she had closed the door.

Delphi was half way down the staircase before she gave in to curiosity. Being careful to magically muffle her footsteps, she crept back up the staircase and pressed an ear to the closed door.

'...what we'll do without Kingsley!'

'Will the motion of no confidence pass?'

Harry sighed loudly with frustration. 'Perhaps... probably. Ryland and his cronies are determined to force him out. They're claiming he's too soft on Muggles and that's what gotten us into this mess.'

Dumbledore was silent for a few moments. 'What do you think, Harry?'

'About what?'

'Well you are the Head of the Auror Office. I mean about these attacks? What do you think is causing them?'

It was Harry's turn to hesitate. 'It can't be Muggles, not on their own. It just can't be.'

'Quite.'

'Things feel different, Albus.'

'In what way?' Dumbledore sounded calm, like he was merely posing a particularly tricky examination question to Harry.

'I don't know... things haven't felt this _charged _since before Voldermort's downfall. Half the Ministry disagrees with Kingsley now. Never mind what Zabini is writing in the _Prophet _every day... so many of _them _are out now...'

'Indeed. One hears many things about those that used to call themselves the Death Eaters.'

'And _her_! That evil woman. Ryland wants to bring her back, put her in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Well if he does, I'm-'

'Well, well, well.'

Delphi spun round like lightning and came face to face with a livid looking Professor Snape. If possible, he seemed even more agitated than in Potions. His black eyes surveyed her closely.

'Listening at doorways, Miss Rhodes?'

'No, I've just been meeting with Professor Dumbledore.'

Snape's eyes glittered triumphantly. 'And yet you decide to linger afterwards and assess his conversation with our Head of the Auror Office.'

Delphi glared defiantly back at Snape. He didn't know how long ago she'd left the room. As long as he didn't go inside and start asking Dumbledore and Harry Potter, she was fine.

'Get back outside where you belong.'

Delphi didn't need telling twice. She hurried down the stairs for real this time, understanding that Snape was watching to make sure she did so. She wondered if he would tell Dumbledore? By the sounds of things, the headmaster had more pressing concerns than one Gryffindor prefect trying to listen in on his conversations.

Still thinking about what she'd overheard, Delphi made her way down through the castle and out into the grounds where most students were enjoying the morning break. It was a sunny morning in mid-April but, rather than go and find her friends and the rest of the sixth years, Delphi wandered across the grass down to the lake.

No one else had come down this far into the grounds but she had a free period next so it didn't really matter. Delphi sat down by the water, kicked off her shoes, and jumped slightly as the giant squid began to tickle her feet in the warm water.

So Harry Potter and the Minister for Magic were under pressure, were they? It didn't surprise Delphi in the slightest. Five years ago, when she'd started Hogwarts, terms like 'Mudblood' and 'Half-breed' were barely heard. Now she was called a Mudblood by the Slytherins on what felt like a weekly basis. It didn't bother her, as she was not remotely scared of any of them, but she couldn't help noticing how much more relaxed they were about using such vocabulary.

Then there were the former blood purists and Death Eaters. The hardcore ones were still in Azkaban, of course. The likes of Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback would likely rot there. But some of the others, those who had joined later on, hedged their bets and flitted between sides, well they had made it back into society.

Back up at the school, Delphi vaguely heard the bell signalling the start of the next lesson. She remained where she was. Teddy and the others would no doubt be tackling McGonagall's tricky essay on Vanishing Spells, but Delphi had already finished it. Not for the first time she wondered why homework took the others so long.

'_helloooo...' _

Delphi jumped out of her skin. Not now, not again.

'_you can hear... we know you can understand... join us... come and talk to us...' _

Delphi leapt to her feet and pulled out her wand. There was no one around and yet the voice had sounded as human as Dumbledore had mere minutes before.

She knew the voice. She had heard it before. Always when she was outside at Hogwarts. It had never followed her home to London. But here, amongst the grass and the Forest, it always sought her out.

Delphi looked around the deserted grounds one last time. Then she turned on her heel and ran at full pelt back up to the castle. She didn't stop until she'd reached the common room, thrown herself into a chair next to Teddy and pretended she'd merely been to ask Flitwick about her latest Charms essay.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter as an introduction to Delphi. The plan is that the POVs will be shared amongst Harry and Delphi but not necessarily evenly. **

**As I mentioned in my last A/N, this is a bit AU. Lots of characters- Dumbledore, Snape, Bellatrix- were not killed during the Second War. Apart from that, you can assume that the story is roughly the same, with Harry defeating Voldermort after destroying his Horcruxes etc. **

**Please leave me a review if you feel like it! **


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